The present invention is directed to a relay plug adaptor arrangement including a relay with terminal pins projecting from a lower side and with a plug adaptor connectable to the relay. More particularly, the adaptor comprises an insulating base or pedestal in which conductor segments of a pressed male plug connector member are secured in a plane parallel to the lower side of the relay. The conductor segments respectively form contact recesses for receiving the relay terminal pins with a non-positive fit contacting, particularly solder contacting. The male plug connector member also forms terminal lugs or blades bent off of one piece perpendicular to the conductor segments. The invention is also directed to a method for the manufacture of such an arrangement.
The terminal elements of relays are designed in accordance with a particular utilization. Usually, relay terminal elements are configured either as solder pins for direct soldering of the relay into a printed circuit board or as flat plugs for plug contacting in a plug socket. Plug sockets are known which have solder pins that are soldered into a printed circuit board and which include plug jacks for receiving a pluggable relay.
German patent document DE 28 10 511 C2 discloses an adaptor for converting a terminal grid of a relay into a different grid of a printed circuit board. An arrangement is shown therein in which the conductor segments are made of thin spring steel, forming spring sockets that enable a plug contacting of the relay in the adaptor without soldering. A soldered connection is also disclosed, however, the terminal lugs of the adaptor itself are in turn suitable only as solder pins and not for plugging due to the small cross section of the material.
Thus, for relays originally designed for utilization on printed circuit boards with solder terminals, it is desirable to make such relays pluggable as well for various utilizations, particularly for employment in motor vehicles, in order to be able to use them in boxes with plug-in sockets together with other pluggable components and relays. For such applications, U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,761 discloses that relays, and possibly with other components, may be accommodated on a small printed circuit board in a housing including internal connections from the printed circuit board to a base with plugs. Such an arrangement, however, not only requires complicated assembly work and occupies a substantially larger volume than the relay alone, it is also unfavorable for switching higher currents because of long conduction paths via the printed circuit board to the base.